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REPRINTED,  BY  PERMISSION,  FROM 
“THE  OUTLOOK”  OF  SEPTEMBER  23RD,  I9O5 


JOSEPH  PENNELL 

ETCHER,  ILLUSTRATOR,  AUTHOR 


BY 

FREDERICK  KEPPEL 


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FREDERICK  KEPPEL  & CO. 

4 EAST  39TH  STREET,  NEW  YORK 

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KEtp=EARCH  INSTITUTE 
GETTY  RESEAR 


JOSEPH  PENNELL 


ETCHER,  ILLUSTRATOR,  AUTHOR, 


BY 


FREDERICK  KEPPEL. 

Of 


/lONG  producers  of  fine  pictures  of  vari- 


ous kinds  it  is  the  able  and  original  illus- 
trator who  most  quickly  wins  recognition  and 
fame,  and  of  all  artists  it  is  he  who  is  the  most 
necessary  and  most  beneficial  to  civilization. 
Literature  is  certainly  the  most  enormous  power 
for  good  that  we  know,  but  many  books  and 
periodicals  would  be  maimed  and  incomplete  if 
unaided  by  an  illustrator  of  the  right  sort.  For 
example,  what  a loss  it  would  have  been  if  that 
familiar  little  masterpiece,  Lewis  CarrolPs 
“Alice  in  Wonderland,”  had  been  originally 
printed  and  published  without  the  admirable  il- 
lustrations of  Sir  John  Tenniel  ! 

Unfortunately,  this  happy  unity  between 
author  and  artist  is  none  too  general,  and  many 
contemporary  illustrations,  although  not  neces- 
sarily bad  as  pictures,  are  nevertheless  “ from 
the  purpose,”  as  Hamlet  says,  and  actually 
fight  against  and  weaken  the  text  which  they 
attempt  to  elucidate  and  emphasize. 

Next  after  the  illustrator  it  is  probably  the 


really  able  original  etcher  to  whom  fame  comes 
quickly;  and  after  him,  in  a descending  scale, 
come  the  portrait  painter,  then  the  painter  of 
other  subjects,  and,  last  of  all  in  order  of  quick 
promotion,  the  sculptor.  His  statue  or  group 
cannot  easily  be  multiplied,  is  difficult  to  move 
from  place  to  place,  and  for  these  reasons  must 
long  remain  comparatively  unknown,  while,  on 
the  contrary,  the  picture  of  the  illustrator  is  ex- 
amined by  thousands  of  people  in  thousands  of 
different  places  from  the  very  day  of  its  birth. 

Of  the  many  famous  painters  who  thus 
won  early  recognition  by  means  of  etching  or 
illustrating,  or  through  both,  I may  mention 
Whistler,  Sir  John  Everett  Millais  (late  Presi- 
dent of  the  Royal  Academy,  London),  the 
Frenchmen  Meissonier  and  Charles  Jacque,  and 
one  of  our  famous  Philadelphians,  Edwin  A. 
Abbey,  R.A.  In  company  with  these  emi- 
nent names  we  may  place  the  name  of  Mr. 
Pennell.  If,  unlike  the  others,  he  is  not  yet 
famous  as  a painter,  it  is  solely  because  the  pub- 
lishers and  the  public  have  not  hitherto  allowed 
him  the  time  necessary  for  the  making  of  oil 
paintings,  water-colors,  and  pastels ; but  he 
has  produced  a few  beautiful  pictures  in  these 
mediums,  although  he  has  not  yet  exhibited 
them.  Moreover,  he  is  still  a young  man. 

4 


Callowhill  street  Bridge,  Philadelphia. 
(Joseph  Pennell’s  first  etching,  done  in  1880.) 


In  the  Twilight. 


Joseph  Pennell — like  Whistler,  Abbey,  and 
other  famous  artists  of  American  birth — has  won 
name  and  fame  in  Europe  before  American 
recognition  came  to  him.  He  comes  of  good 
old  Quaker  stock,  and  was  born  at  Philadelphia 
on  the  fourth  of  July,  1 860.  He  is  the  son  of 
the  late  Larkin  Pennell,  who  was  an  eminent 
member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,  and  whose 
first  American  ancestor  came  to  our  shores  in 
company  with  William  Penn  when  the  latter 
made  his  second  voyage  from  England  to  the 
province  of  Pennsylvania. 

I think  that  pictorial  art — like  music,  rich 
dress,  and  certain  other  artistic  but  worldly 
vanities — was  disallowed  by  the  sternly  con- 
scientious first  followers  of  George  Fox  ; but, 
be  that  as  it  may,  Joseph  Pennell  from  his  early 
boyhood  was  resolved  to  become  an  artist,  and 
that  indomitable  “backbone”  which  distin- 
guishes him  as  a man  must  have  made  difficult 
things  easy  to  him  as  a boy. 

His  training  began  at  the  Philadelphia  Indus- 
trial Art  School,  and  was  continued  and  com- 
pleted at  the  Pennsylvania  Academy  of  Fine 
Arts.  This  was  during  the  years  when  that 
admirable  man,  the  late  fames  L.  Claghorn, 
was  its  President.  Mr.  Claghorn  belonged  to 
the  very  best  type  of  American  citizenship ; 
9 


one  of  those  essentially  “big”  and  forceful 
men — president  of  this,  chairman  of  that, 
trustee  of  the  other  public  institution,  but 
withal  thoroughly  democratic  and  quite  devoid 
of  all  pretense  or  self-importance.  This  was 
the  man  who  first  made  me  acquainted  with  the 
work  of  Joseph  Pennell,  who  was  not  then 
twenty  years  old,  and  I well  remember  the 
glow  of  pride  on  Mr.  Claghorn’s  handsome 
face  -as  he  showed  me  certain  etchings  repre- 
senting street  scenes  in  Philadelphia,  and  his 
remark,  “ This  is  original  work  by  one  of  our 
own  boys;  now  what  do  you  say  to  that  !” 

These  first  essays  of  the  “ ’prentice  hand” 
were  little  more  than  the  prophecy  of  what  the 
master  hand  was  to  do  later,  and  yet  they  were 
full  of  good  augury.  Some  of  the  essential 
qualities  were  already  manifest — such  as  the 
unerring  eye  for  the  picturesque,  and  also  that 
instinct  for  good  drawing  which  we  may  com- 
pare to  the  delicate  natural  ear  for  music  which 
renders  it  almost  impossible  for  its  happy  pos- 
sessor to  sing  a note  out  of  tune.  In  both  cases 
competent  instructors  can — and  indeed  must — 
develop  and  educate  the  gift  which  is  inborn  in 
a true  artist;  but  if  this  gift  is  not  there,  the 
teachers  can  never  create  it. 

In  the  vital  quality  of  appropriateness 


as 


At  Lynchburg,  Virginia, 


-I 


— 


contrasted  with  irrelevancy,  Mr.  Pennell’s  illus- 
trations are  certainly  unsurpassed  ; and  it  would 
be  as  difficult  to  find  among  them  a picture 
which  does  not  materially  aid  the  text  as  it 
would  be  to  find  one  which,  in  itself,  is  not  a 
veritable  work  of  art.  But  besides  his  acknowl- 

edged' power  as  a draughtsman  for  illustration, 
his  technical  knowledge  of  reproductive  pro- 
cesses gives  him  a distinct  advantage  over  most 
of  his  confreres,  so  that  his  ^rawing  is  pretty 
sure  to  “ print”  well  in  the  page  of  a mag- 
azine or  a book,  because  he  knows  so  well  how 
to  make  his  picture  with  that  particular  end  in 
view. 

Another  rare  endowment  is  his  peculiar  faculty 
for  giving  to  each  one  of  his  pictures  its  own 
true  local  aspect,  so  that  there  is  no  mistaking  an 
American  for  an  English  scene  or  a Spanish  for 
an  Italian  view.  Very  few  artists  possess  this 
faculty  of  discarding  their  own  particular  national 
point  of  view  and  of  absorbing  the  changed 
character  ol  different  foreign  countries — no  two 
of  which  are  alike.  The  opposite  condition  is 
strongly  felt  in  the  case  of  the  portraits  of 
Americans  whom  we  know,  and  which  are 
painted  here  by  visiting  foreign  artists  of  consid- 
erable reputation  ; such  pictures  may  display 
all  the  brilliant  cleverness  of  the  modern  French 


13 


school,  and  may  even  be  good  as  likenesses,  yet 
we  are  sure  to  suffer  from  the  “ Frenchy  ” 
flavor  which  the  foreign  artist  has  unconsciously 
superadded. 

But  all  this  while  we  are  leaving  Joseph 
Pennell  as  a promising  young  art  student  in 
peaceful  Philadelphia,  whereas  his  fame  was  to 
be  won  a thousand  leagues  from  his  native  city. 
We  must  follow  him  to  Europe,  whither  he 
went  in  the  year  1884  ; but,  if  we  let  him  go 
there  alone,  this  chronicle  would  be  so  incom- 
plete as  to  be  quite  worthless.  Another  good 
Philadelphian  must  go  with  him,  so  inseparable 
for  the  last  twenty  years  is  the  work  of  the  two, 
although  the  one  never  does  the  particular  work 
of  the  other. 

I well  remember  hearing  that  man  of  genius, 
Henry  Ward  Beecher,  say  in  a sermon,  “ When 
God  gives  a man  a good  wife,  that  man  will 
thereafter  have  little  need  to  pray  to  his  Creator 
for  other  blessings.”  We  all  know  of  the 
beautiful  union  between  Robert  Browning  and 
his  wife  Elizabeth;  but  this  historic  intellectual 
partnership  was  not  more  complete  than  that 
between  Joseph  and  Elizabeth  Robins  Pennell. 

The  parallel  is  not  without  divergences.  As 
poets  the  Brownings  were  (in  a noble  way) 
<f  two  of  a trade,”  while  Mrs.  Pennell  never 
H 


Last  of  the  Scaffolding.  (Philadelphia  Public  Buildings.) 


makes  a picture — although  she  understands  pic- 
tures so  well  ; but,  on  the  other  hand,  Mr. 
Pennell  sometimes  writes  a book  or  a detached 
article,  and  this  is  the  particular  province  of  his 
wife.  Another  divergence  from  the  parallel  is 
that,  while  Mrs.  Browning  was  strong  in  her 
intellect,  her  physical  health  was  wretchedly 
feeble,  whereas  I verily  believe  that  Mrs. 
Pennell  hardly  knows  what  it  is  to  be  tired 
either  in  mind  or  body,  or,  if  she  does,  she 
never  shows  it. 

The  many  Americans  who  have  experienced 
her  charming  and  simple  hospitality  in  London 
would,  I am  sure,  like  to  have  me  go  on  and 
on  with  this  part  of  my  subject,  and  it  is  with 
an  effort  that  I “ keep  my  mouth  as  with  a bit 
and  bridle,”  and  shorten  all  that  I would  like 
to  say  in  my  enthusiasm  for  Mrs.  Pennell.  We 
all  know  her  books  and  magazine  articles,  but  it 
is  not  so  generally  known  that  she  is  the  writer 
of  the  widely  read  London  letters  of  art  criti- 
cism, signed  “ N.  N.,”  which  for  years  have 
regularly  appeared  in  the  New  York  “ Evening 
Post”  and  in  the  “Nation.”  To  me  these 
articles  are  the  best  of  their  kind  ; at  least,  I 
have  learned  more  from  them  than  from  the 
writings  of  any  other  of  the  excellent  writers  of 
contemporary  art  criticism,  for  not  only  is  their 
17 


author  endowed  with  (t  the  pen  of  the  ready 
writer,”  and  thoroughly  equipped  with  know- 
ledge and  understanding  of  her  subject,  but  she 
also  takes  the  pains  to  gather  and  then  distribute 
definite,  timely,  and  accurate  information  con- 
cerning art  and  artists.  Her  latest  book,  re- 
cently published,  is  the  biography  of  her  own 
uncle,  Charles  Godfrey  Leland,  whose  “ Hans 
Breitmann  Ballads  ” made  him  famous  a gen- 
eration ago,  and  whose  books  on  the  Gypsies 
are  so  well  known.  A much  thinner  disguise 
than  Mrs.  Pennell’s  “ N.  N.” — which  is 
simply  two  letters  taken  from  the  middle  of 
her  surname — is  in  the  case  of  the  ubiquitous 
tf  J ,”  a gentleman  who  figures  so  inter- 

estingly in  her  books  of  travel  ; but  intelligent 
readers  will  have  small  difficulty  in  guessing  the 
identity  of  this  mysterious  “J ” ! 

Thus  it  was  that  this  bright  and  enthusiastic 
young  couple  left  Philadelphia  and  settled  in 
London  ; and  thus  began  their  notable  artistic 
and  literary  work  of  the  last  twenty  years.  To 
illustrate  their  position,  let  us  consider  the  fa- 
miliar case  of  new  and  intelligent  tenants  tak- 
ing possession  of  an  old  house.  The  former 
tenants  may  have  been  intelligent  also,  but  they 
had  grown  so  used  to  their  surroundings  that 
they  never  once  thought  of  the  many  improve- 
I 8 


Towers  of  San  Ghimignano. 


ments  which  were  obvious  enough  to  the  new- 
comers. It  was  with  the  spirit  of  these  new 
tenants,  then,  that  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pennell  came 
to  “discover”  Europe  in  the  year  1884. 
Things  and  scenes  which  were  ordinary  mat- 
ters of  course  to  the  native  Londoners,  or  the 
natives  of  other  parts  of  Europe,  were  to  the 
young  American  couple  intensely  interesting 
novelties  ; and  it  was  thus  that  they  saw  and 
felt  them,  and  thus  that  they  described  them  in 
picture  and  book.  Some  of  the  earlier  books  or 
single  articles  which  Mr.  Pennell  illustrated  in 
Europe  were  written  by  his  wife.  The  first  ot 
these  books  was  “ Our  Canterbury  Pilgrimage,” 
published  in  1885.  Then  followed  “Two 
Pilgrims’  Progress”  (1886),  and  “ Our  Senti- 
mental Journey”  (1887).  Later  came  Mrs. 
Pennell’s  charming  book  “ In  Gypsy-land,” 
which  leads  the  reader  through  untrodden  ways 
in  southeastern  Europe.  In  1889  appeared 
“ Our  Journey  to  the  Hebrides,”  and  in  1890 
“ The  Stream  of  Pleasure,”  which  was  jointly 
written  by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Pennell,  as  was  also 
that  important  book  “Lithography  and  Lithog- 
raphers ” ( 1 898). 

Of  books  written  entirely  by  Joseph  Pennell 
we  have  “ Pen  Drawing  and  Pen  Draughts- 
men ” (to  which  I shall  devote  a separate  para- 


graph  later  on);  “ Modern  Illustration  ” (1895); 
“ The  Illustration  of  Books  ” (1896),  being 
the  course  of  lectures  delivered  by  him  at  the 
Slade  Art  School ; and  “ The  Work  of  Charles 
Keene  ” (1897).  He  has  also  edited  “ Pablo 
de  Segovie  ” — the  edition  containing  the  beau- 
tiful illustrations  by  Daniel  Vierge — and  “ Some 
Poems  by  Tennyson,”  which  was  done  for 
the  sake  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  illustrations 
which  appeared  in  Moxon’s  edition  about  forty 
years  ago. 

Next  comes  the  list  of  Mr.  PennelPs  illus- 
trations to  the  writings  of  various  other  emi- 
nent authors.  In  1884  was  published  “ Tus- 
can Cities,”  by  W.  D.  Howells  ; the  notable 
series  of  illustrations  to  the  “English  Cathe- 
drals ” of  Mrs.  Schuyler  van  Rensselaer  ap- 
peared from  1887  to  1890;  “The  Saone,” 
by  P.  G.  Hamerton  (1888);  the  reprint  of 
Washington  Irving’s  “Alhambra,”  with  an 
introduction  by  Mrs.  Pennell  (1897);  “A 
Little  Tour  in  France,”  by  Henry  James, 
( 1 899)  ; “ Italian  Journeys,”  by  W.  D.  How- 
ells (1901);  “ East  London,”  by  Sir  Walter 
Besant  (1901);  “ Castilian  Days”  (1903),  by 
John  Hay;  Andrew  Lang’s  “ Edinburgh  ” ; 
S.  R.  Crockett’s  book  on  his  own  Scottish 
country  ; several  books  of  the  “ Highways  and 


22 


The  Choir,  St.  Paul’s. 


Chelsea.  (The  Larger  Plate.  ) 


Byways”  series;  Maurice  Hewlett’s  “ Road 
in  Tuscany”  (1904);  and  “ English  Hours,” 
by  Henry  James  (1905).  Mr.  Pennell  also 
directed  the  illustrating  of  John  Morley’s  “ Life 
of  Cromwell,”  besides  contributing  to  it  many 
illustrations  of  his  own  ; and  he  has  also  fin- 
ished the  drawings  for  two  books  of  special 
importance  — one  of  these  is  on  the  inexhausti- 
ble subject  of  London,  and  the  other  is  Marion 
Crawford’s  book  on  Venice.  Most  of  us  have 
learned  that  when  Mr.  Crawford  writes  on  an 
Italian  subject  he  is  at  his  very  best. 

Truly  this  is  an  honorable  record.  But  in 
addition  to  Mr.  Pennell’s  illustrations  for  books 
by  these  distinguished  authors  he  has  found 
time  to  write  at  least  one  book  of  prime  impor- 
tance— seeing  that  it  was  the  first  book  on  a 
new  and  significant  subject,  “Pen  Drawings  and 
Pen  Draughtsmen”  (1889),  a large  and  costly 
work  which  has  already  gone  through  three  edi- 
tions. Thirty  years  ago  there  would  have  been 
no  need  ol  such  a book,  for  before  that  period 
the  illustrator  drew  his  design  upon  a piece  ol 
boxwood  and  handed  it  over  to  the  tender  mer- 
cies of  the  wood-engraver  ; often  the  engraver 
spoiled  the  beauty  of  the  artist’s  design,  but 
whether  he  spoiled  it  or  not  he  always,  in  en- 
graving it,  had  to  annihilate  the  actual  picture 
25 


which  the  artist  had  drawn.  But  with  the  in- 
vention of  what  is  vaguely  called  “ process  ” 
reproduction  of  a drawing  all  this  is  changed, 
and  to-day  the  first-class  illustrator  is  in  a posi- 
tion to  belie  the  old  adage  that  “ you  can’t  eat 
your  cake  and  have  it  too  these  artists  can  eat 
their  cake  but  still  have  it.  What  they  do  is  to 
sell  to  the  publisher,  not  their  drawing,  but  only 
the  right  to  reproduce  it.  When  this  is  done,  by 
means  of  photography  and  “ process”  work, 
the  original  drawing  is  handed  back,  intact,  to 
the  artist,  and  he  has  then  the  right  to  dispose 
of  it  as  he  pleases. 

This  revolution  in  reproductive  methods  for 
the  illustrating  of  books  and  periodicals  has 
caused  (as  all  revolutions  are  sure  to  cause) 
widespread  suffering  to  innocent  persons.  The 
wood-engraver  for  about  four  centuries  had  been 
indispensable  because  his  was  the  only  kind  of 
picture  which  could  be  rapidly  printed  on  a 
machine  press  along  with  the  type  which  printed 
the  pages  of  the  book  ; and  it  may  here  be  added 
that  the  American  school  of  engravers  on  wood 
had  become  the  most  artistic  and  expert  in  the 
world.  Then  it  was  that  the  new  “ process  ” 
method  was  perfected,  and  thereafter  wood- 
engraving was  killed.  The  new  method  was 
found  to  yield  an  unerring  reproduction  of  the 
26 


artist’s  picture  just  as  he  had  drawn  it,  and  so  it 
came  to  pass  that  what  John  Ruskin  calls  “ the 
noble  human  labor  of  the  engraver  ” got  its 
death-blow,  and  the  world  got  one  more  demon- 
stration of  “ the  survival  of  the  fittest.” 

Mr.  Pennell’s  forthcoming  book,  “ Ameri- 
can Illustration  and  Engraving,”  is  awaited 
with  special  interest.  The  efficient  manner  in 
which  he  discharged  his  duties  as  chairman  ol 
the  International  Jury  of  Awards  for  Illustra- 
tion, Etching,  and  Engraving  at  the  St.  Louis 
Exposition  warrants  us  in  expecting  an  impor- 
tant book,  the  more  so  as  his  early  work, 
“ Modern  Illustration,”  shows  what  he  can  do 
when  writing  on  this  subject. 

Besides  these  writings  on  art  subjects,  there 
are  others  which  record  the  prowess  of  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Pennell  as  bicyclists  throughout  the 
Continent  of  Europe  and  even  over  the  Alps. 
Mrs.  Pennell’s  book,  “Bicycling,”  appeared 
in  1885,  and  quite  recently  Mr.  Pennell  re- 
visited the  Alps  on  a motor  cycle  and  made  the 
record  of  being  the  first  man  thus  to  traverse 
eleven  of  the  difficult  passes  in  a single  week. 
Still  another  of  his  activities  is  represented  by 
the  public  lectures  which  he  has  delivered  be- 
fore certain  art  societies  in  England. 

Let  us  now  consider  Mr.  Pennell  as  an  ori- 


3 1 


ginal  painter-etcher;  for  it  is  in  etching  that  he 
is,  perhaps  at  his  best.  A French  writer  has 
wisely  said  that  while  artists  work  daily  at  paint- 
ing, it  is  only  on  their  good  days  that  they  etch. 
Another  French  authority  tells  us  that  no  one 
can  do  a thing  thoroughly  well  unless  he  can  do 
it  with  ease.  Both  of  these  conditions  apply  to 
Mr.  Pennell  as  an  etcher.  The  quality  and 
volume  of  his  work  as  an  illustrator  we  know  ; 
but  yet,  throughout  these  busy  twenty  years 
and  more,  it  is  evident  that  when  an  extra 
“ good  ” day  came  to  him  he  was  pretty  sure  to 
make  an  etching,  and  that  etching  was  pretty 
sure  to  be  full  of  the  painter-etcher’s  prime 
quality,  namely,  spontaneity  and  freshness. 
Speaking  on  this  subject,  the  great  landscape 
etcher  Sir  Seymour  Haden  has  said  to  me  : 
“ An  etching  which  occupies  the  artist  for, 
say,  three  days,  is  in  fact  the  work  of  three  dif- 
ferent men;  the  artist’s  mood  is  one  thing  on 
Monday,  another  on  Tuesday,  and  still  another 
on  Wednesday  ; but  the  freshness  and  unity  of 
an  etching  cannot  be  maintained  unless  the 
artist  knows  exactly  what  he  intends  to  do  and 
then  does  it  at  once.”  And  in  Sir  Seymour’s 
pamphlet,  “ About  Etching,”  he  writes: 
“ The  painter,  by  overlaying  his  work,  may 
modify  and  correct  it  as  he  goes  on.  Not  so 
32 


Saint  Martin’s  Bridge,  Spain. 


the  etcher.  Every  stroke  he  makes  must  tell 
strongly  against  him  if  it  be  bad,  or  prove  him 
a master  if  it  be  good.  In  no  branch  of  art 
does  a touch  go  for  so  much.  The  necessity 
for  a rigid  selection  is  therefore  constantly 
present  in  his  mind.  If  one  stroke  in  the  right 
place  tells  more  for  him  than  ten  in  the  wrong, 
it  would  seem  to  follow  that  that  single  stroke  is 
a more  learned  stroke  than  the  ten  by  which 
he  would  have  arrived  at  his  end.”  “The 
faculty  of  doing  such  work  supposes  a concen- 
tration and  a reticence  requisite  in  no  other 
art.” 

Whistler  was  of  the  same  opinion,  and 
although  it  was  not  his  habit  to  praise  the  work 
of  his  brother  artists,  yet  in  London,  when  Mr. 
Pennell  made  an  exhibition  of  his  own  litho- 
graphs, Whistler  contributed  to  the  catalogue 
the  following  characteristic  little  note  of  intro- 
duction : “ There  is  a crispness  in  their  execu- 
tion, and  a lightness  and  gayety  in  their  ar- 
rangement as  pictures,  that  belong  to  the  artist 
alone.”  I may  add  that  Mr.  Pennell’s  work 
in  lithography  well  deserves  to  be  treated  in 
a separate  article. 

This  impromptu  spontaneity  of  his  method 
involves  one  little  drawback  — if  it  be  a draw- 
back at  all  : it  is  that  in  his  architectural  etchings 

.35 


what  the  French  call  the  orie?itation  is  reversed  ; 
west  takes  the  place  of  east,  and  south  of 
north.  But  in  this  he  follows  the  precedent  of 
Rembrandt,  Whistler,  and  Seymour  Haden. 
The  sole  preoccupation  of  these  masters  was  to 
make  an  artistic  picture,  and  they  cared  nothing 
at  all  for  observing  the  points  of  the  compass. 
The  printing  of  course  reverses  the  design  as 
seen  on  the  etched  copper  plate. 

To  have  seen  Mr.  Pennell  at  work  etching  a 
plate  is  a thing  to  remember.  He  loves  to 
depict  the  towering  buildings  of  crowded  city 
streets.  Most  etchers  of  such  subjects  would 
make  a preliminary  sketch  on  the  spot  and  after- 
ward toil  laboriously  over  the  copper  plate  in 
the  retirement  of  their  studios  ; but  Mr.  Pennell 
takes  a far  more  direct  course,  and  one  which 
would  disconcert  almost  any  other  artist.  He 
chooses  his  place  in  the  crowded  street,  and 
stands  there  quite  undisturbed  by  the  rush  of 
passers-by  or  by  the  idlers  who  stand  and  stare 
at  him  or  at  his  work.  Taking  quick  glances  at 
the  scene  he  is  depicting,  he  rapidly  draws  his 
lines  with  the  etching-needle  upon  the  copper 
plate  which  he  holds  in  his  other  hand,  and, 
what  to  me  seems  an  astonishing  tour  de  force , 
he  never  hesitates  one  instant  in  selecting  the 
exact  spot  on  his  plate  where  he  is  about  to 
36 


Classic  London,  St.  Martin’s  in  the  Fields. 


draw  some  vital  line  of  the  picture,  each  line  of 
it  being  a “ learned  stroke”  such  as  Seymour 
Haden  insists  upon. 

Of  late  he  has  become  the  printer  of  his  own 
plates.  The  fastidious  Whistler  was  forced  to 
do  the  same.  It  is  a troublesome  operation,  but 
when  an  etcher  prints  his  own  proofs  (provided 
that  he  knows  how  to  do  it),  we  have  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  each  proof  is  exactly 
what  the  artist  intended  it  to  be.  With  regard 
to  Mr.  Pennell’s  etched  copper  plates,  it  is  not 
generally  known  that  he  has  already  destroyed 
most  of  them,  including  all  the  earlier  ones. 
This  is  a wise  thing  for  an  etcher  to  do  just  as 
soon  as  his  plate  shows  the  first  signs  of  deterio- 
ration from  the  wear  and  tear  of  the  printing- 
press. 

As  a controversialist  in  matters  concerning 
art  and  artists  Mr.  Pennell’s  earlier  years  in 
London  were  stormy  ones,  and  he  certainly 
succeeded  in  making  several  more  or  less  sleepy 
critical  dignitaries  “sit  up”  in  amazement  and 
indignation  at  his  audacity.  One  of  them,  a 
really  eminent  critic,  said  to  me  on  this  subject  : 
“ How  dare  this  rash  young  American  upset 
our  accepted  theories,  and  attack  men  of 
established  reputation  !”  But,  little  by  little, 
a change  came  about,  and  these  solemn  conser- 
39 


vative  folk  awoke  to  the  discovery  that  when 
Joseph  Pennell  published  some  revolutionary 
opinion,  he  was  very  apt  to  be  in  the  right  ! 
The  truth  is  that  to  his  stern  Quaker  conscience 
there  is  only  one  law — Right  is  right,  and 
must  be  upheld  ; wrong  is  wrong,  and  must  be 
denounced,  no  matter  who  may  be  hurt  or 
who  may  be  offended.  Moreover,  his  criti- 
cisms can  be  constructive  as  well  as  destructive. 
It  was  he  who  discovered  and  first  proclaimed 
the  extraordinary  talent  of  Aubrey  Beardsley, 
and  it  was  he  who  recalled  from  partial  neglect 
the  merit  of  the  illustrations  of  such  great  artists 
as  Charles  Keene  and  Daniel  Vierge. 

Mr.  Pennell’s  attitude  in  his  controversies 
gave  him  a great  advantage  as  compared  with 
the  attitude  of  his  own  divinity  and  intimate 
friend,  the  great  Whistler.  In  Whistler’s  con- 
troversies the  unpardonable  sin  of  his  opponent 
was  always  committed  against  the  personality 
of  the  great  man  himself,  whereas  Mr.  Pennell, 
though  hating  the  sin,  continued  to  love  the 
sinner.  I remember  a quaint  demonstration  of 
this,  at  a time  when  controversies  were  being 
waged  rather  furiously.  Being  at  his  house,  I 
quoted  to  him  the  remark  of  Lady  Teazle  to 
her  husband.  Sir  Peter,  in  Sheridan’s  “ School 
for  Scandal,”  “I  vow  I bear  no  malice  against 
4° 


The  Last  of  Old  London. 


the  people  I abuse!  ” “ No  more  do  1,”  was 

Mr.  Pennell’s  rejoinder  ; “ personally  they  are 
very  decent  fellows.” 

Apart  from  the  steady  improvement  in  the 
quality  of  his  pictures  (and  that  he  is  twenty- 
five  years  older  than  when  I knew  him  first), 

I can  perceive  no  change  in  Joseph  Pennell. 
A positive  personality,  he  was  himself  from 
the  beginning,  and  he  will  remain  so  to  the 
end.  His  intercourse  of  twenty  years  with 
many  distinguished  people  in  London  has  not 
imparted  to  his  speech  even  a trace  of  the  Lon- 
don accent,  nor  have  the  more  ornate  and  cere- 
monious manners  of  his  British  and  Continental 
friends  changed  him  in  the  least  from  the  simple 
and  kindly  young  Philadelphian  whom  I first 
knew.  As  I write  I can  almost  see  him  in  his 
London  home,  taking  his  ease  in  his  library 
and  comfortably  “dumped”  down  in  his  low- 
seated  wicker  armchair.  It  was  in  this  uncere- 
monious, but  characteristic  pose,  that  Whistler 
made  his  portrait — knees  and  elbows  being  well 
in  evidence.  An  outsider  seeing  him  thus 
would  think  (begging  his  pardon)  that  he  was 
a very  lazy  man.  Joseph  Pennell  a lazy  man! 
Any  one  who  thinks  so  still  has  evidently  not 
read  the  preceding  pages. 


43 


ETCHINGS  BY 
JOSEPH  PENNELL 


Number  230,  Strand. 


Saint  Paul’s. 


ETCHINGS 


BY 

JOSEPH  PENNELL 


The  following  etchings  by  Mr.  Pennell  can  be  supplied, 
at  present,  by  Messrs.  Frederick  Keppel  & Co.,  No.  4 East 
39th  Street,  New  York.  The  plates  are  destroyed. 


The  Philadelphia  Series 
Callowhill  Street  Bridge 
Chestnut  Street  Bridge 
Last  of  the  Scaffolding 
Under  the  Bridges  on  the  Schuylkill 
Public  Buildings,  Philadelphia 
Water  Street  Stairs 
Street  Sweepers 
Sauerkraut  Row 
The  Alleyway 

Coal  Wharves  on  the  Schuylkill 
Plow  Inn  Yard 
Brass  Foundry 
Below  Atlantic  City 
Chancery  Lane 


49 


The  New  Orleans  Series 
Inner  Court 
In  the  Twilight 
’Sieur  Georges 
Pilot  Town,  Louisiana 
At  Lynchburg,  Virginia 
An  American  Venice 

The  Italian  Series 
Towers  of  San  Ghimignano 
Street  in  Fiesole 
A Narrow  Way,  Florence 
The  Swing  of  the  Arno,  Pisa 
A Covered  Street,  Florence 
In  the  Piazza,  Pistoia 
Porto  Romano,  Florence 

The  London  Series,  (No.  i) 

Chelsea 

Chelsea  (the  smaller  plate) 

Statue  of  Charles  I 
Choir  of  St.  Paul’s 
Palace  Theatre 
Victoria  Station 
Copying  Turner’s  Paintings 
Millbank 

Black  Friars’  Bridge 
Start  of  the  Coaches 


5° 


The  Entrance  to  Henry  VII  Chapel — Westminster  Abbey. 


The  New  York  Series 


Park  Row 

The  st  L ” and  the  Trinity  Building 

Four  Story  House 

Golden  Cornice  (ioo  Broadway) 

Union  Square  and  the  Bank  of  the  Metropolis 

Times  Building  and  42nd  Street 

Forty-Second  Street 

Lower  Broadway 

Trinity  Church 

Canyon  No.  1 

Canyon  No.  2 

Canyon  No.  3 

Tribune  and  the  Sun 

White  Tower 

The  Shrine 

Statue  of  Liberty 

St.  Paul  Building 

The  Thousand  Windows 

The  Hole  in  the  Ground 

Union  Square,  Rainy  Day 

(t  The  Flat  Iron  ” 

Old  and  New  New  York 

The  Cliffs 

Wall  Street 

Times  Building 

St.  Thomas  and  St.  Regis 

Fifth  Avenue 


53 


The  Spanish  Series 
St.  Martin’s  Bridge 
Bridge  of  Alcantara 
Toledo 

Castle  of  Cervantes 
The  Alcazar,  Toledo 

The  London  Series  (No.  2) 

Albert  Hall 

Admiralty 

Bedford  Place 

Big  Tree,  Cheyne  Walk 

Bridge  Street,  Westminster 

British  Museum 

Barber  Shop 

Bushey  Park 

Butchers’  Row,  Whitechapel 

Crystal  Palace 

Cheyne  Walk,  Chelsea 

Classic  London,  St.  Martin’s  in  the  Fields 

Coliseum,  Trafalgar  Square 

Cumberland  Gate 

Cumberland  Terrace,  Regents  Park 

Clock  Tower  from  the  Surrey  Side 

Cannon  Street  Station  from  the  River 

Cowley  Street,  Westminster 

Church  of  St.  Mary  le  Strand 

Dock  Head 


54 


Duke  of  York’s  Column 

Entrance  to  Henry  VII  Chapel,  Westminster 
Abbey 
Exeter  Hall 
Empire  Theatre 
Foreign  Office 
From  Tower  Bridge 
Greenwich  Park,  Number  One 
Greenwich  Park,  Number  Two 
Great  College  Street 
Great  Gate,  Lincoln’s  Inn 
Great  Cranes,  South  Kensington 
Gothic  Cross,  Charing  Cross 
Goldsmith’s  Grave,  The  Temple 
Guild  Hall 

Greenwich  from  the  River 

Gate  of  the  Temple 

Gate  of  Burlington  House 

Gaiety  Theatre  from  Drury  Lane 

Grosvenor  Road 

Garrick  Theatre 

House  Where  Whistler  Died 

Hall,  Lincoln’s  Inn 

Hall  Door,  Lincoln’s  Inn 

Haymarket  Theatre 

Hampton  Court  Palace 

Hotel  Victoria 

Hyde  Park  Mansion 


57 


Hippodrome 
Hempstead  Ponds 
Hyde  Park  Corner 
Institute,  Piccadilly 

King’s  College,  The  Embankment  Gate 

Knightsbridge 

Law  Courts 

Lindsay  Row 

Lincoln’s  Inn  Fields 

Limehouse 

Ludgate  Hill,  showing  the  Holborn  Viaduct 

London  Bridge  Stairs 

Leadenhall  Market 

Last  of  Old  London 

Lambeth 

Loundes  Square 

Lion  Brewery 

Magnificent  Kensington 

Marble  Arch 

Montague  Street 

Northumberland  Avenue 

Number  230,  Strand 

Narrow  Street 

On  Clapham  Common 

Old  Court,  Lincoln’s  Inn 

Old  London  Churchyard 

Pond,  Clapham  Common 

Park  Lane 


The  Hall  Door,  Lincoln’s  Inn. 


Rossetti’s  House. 


Piccadilly  from  Park  Lane 
Park  Gate 

Queen  Anne’s  Mansion  from  the  Lake 
Rossetti’s  House 

Royal  Entrance,  Victoria  Tower 

Rainy  Night,  Charing  Cross  Shops 

Royal  Windsor 

St.  Augustin’s  and  St.  Faith’s 

St.  Bartholomew’s  Gate 

St.  Bartholomew’s,  The  Founder’s  Tomb 

St.  Clement  Dane’s 

St.  Dunstan’s,  Fleet  Street 

St.  James  Park 

St.  James  Palace 

St.  John’s  Gate,  Clerkenwell 

St.  John’s,  Westminster 

St.  Paul’s 

St.  Paul’s,  The  West  Door 

St.  Paul’s,  South  Porch 

Swan  at  Leadenhall 

“Sunlight  Soap,”  A London  Shop 

Shot  Tower 

Spitalfield  Church 

Steps  of  British  Museum 

Thames  at  Richmond 

Thames  from  Richmond  Hill 

Thames  Wharf 

Tower  Bridge 


63 


Trafalgar  Square 
Tyburn,  The  Motor  Car 
Top  of  Regent  Street 
Temple  of  Pomona 
Up  to  St.  Paul’s 
Villiers  Street 

Vale  of  Health,  Hampstead 
Victoria 

Whitehall  Court 

Waterloo  Bridge  and  Somerset  House 
Westminster  Abbey,  West  Front 
Waterloo  Towers 
White  House,  Tite  Street 


V 


64 


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